The Trump Tapes Must Be Released To The Public

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz zeroed in on Donald Trump during Thursday night's debate over off-the-record comments to the New York Times that may expose false promises about deporting illegal aliens. Trump refuses to give the Times permission to release the audiotapes. (AP)

Election '16: Donald Trump's opponents are demanding he give the New York Times permission to release his off-the-record remarks on what he would really do on immigration. Like the Nixon tapes, the public must hear it.

As BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith reported last week, the New York Times has an audio recording of Trump speaking to its editorial board on Jan. 5, an off-the-record portion of which features him admitting that the famed dealmaker intends to break his promise to deport 11 million illegal aliens.

Times columnist Gail Collins, who attended, wrote a week ago Saturday that Trump "just doesn’t believe in positions, except the ones you adopt for strategic purposes when you’re making a deal. So you obviously can’t explain how you’re going to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, because it’s going to be the first bid in some future monster negotiation session." And her inside knowledge of Trump's own candid words behind closed doors may be behind her analysis.

As Smith asks, "Did he abandon a core promise of his campaign in a private conversation with liberal power brokers in New York?"

It's perfectly logical for Trump to try to impress the Gray Lady elites by boasting that he's just telling the unwashed masses what he knows they want to hear; they may not be in ideological accord with him, but they'll recognize a shrewd politician as such in their coverage.

If Trump believes his skills as a negotiator are what Americans want in the White House, it would make sense for him to give the New York Times permission to disclose his remarks. But he apparently believes the candid comments will expose his dishonesty on the issue that propelled him to the top of the GOP field.

In answer to Fox News' Megyn Kelly in Thursday night's debate, Trump first began to claim "I don't know exactly what" Kelly was referring to, then charged that BuzzFeed was an unreliable news source. Finally, he claimed "I have too much respect for that process" of journalists' ground rules "to say, 'just release everything.' I would not do that."

But an interviewee giving a news organization permission to release his off-the-record comments doesn't disrespect the "process" of reporters' work. And it certainly doesn't betray any confidence established between Trump and the Times. The source is simply exercising his discretion to change something he said from "off the record" to "on the record." Reporters are delighted when sources do this.

As Ted Cruz noted during the debate, the Times tape is important because it seems "that Donald told the editorial board of the New York Times what I'm saying on immigration, I don't believe." And over and over again, hearkening back to President Richard Nixon's tapes in the Watergate scandal, Cruz demanded of Trump that he "release the tapes."

Chances are that, like the off-the-record "47%" remark that came back to haunt Mitt Romney in 2012, the Trump Tapes will somehow go public at a time that favors the Democratic nominee. For Trump, it might be better to "release the tapes" now.

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